2019 Etrade Pro Review: Stock Fees Versus TD Ameritrade (Scottrade)

E-Trade is one of the most popular online brokers around. There’s a high chance that you’ve seen an advertisement for them online or on TV recently. While E-Trade is indeed a famous name in the industry, you may wonder whether this makes them superior to their competitors. After all, there are plenty of online brokers to choose from, so it’s important that you go with the one that fully meets your needs.

In general, beginners and low-frequency traders will likely be happy with everything that E-Trade has to offer. They provide a wide range of help materials, as well as access to live help from financial professionals.

Advantages of E-Trade

Wide Range of Financial Services Provided

If you’re looking for a company that can offer you a large selection of financial services, E-Trade is definitely worth looking at. They allow you to trade several kinds of investments, including stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and bonds. Other financial services provided by E-Trade include IRAs, checking accounts and mortgages.

Plenty of Trading Tools

As soon as you sign up with E-Trade, you’ll get access to several tools that help you make good investment decisions. You can take advantage of their research center, which gives you interactive charts, tax advice and real-time quotes. If you’re a more active investor that makes over 30 trades per quarter, you’ll receive an automatic upgrade to their E-Trade Pro platform.

This more advanced platform gives you access to extended trading hours, as well as several additional tools that you can use to make your trading activities easier, such as customizable watch lists. No matter what kind of investor you are, E-Trade provides you with the tools you need to make successful trades.

Simple to Use for Beginners

If you’re a beginner, there’s a high chance that you’ll like E-Trade. Their website is quite simple to navigate, so you’ll quickly be able to find everything that you need. E-Trade also provides a very comprehensive investor education center. It provides you with a lot of information on the various investments available and how to trade them. The education center itself is neatly organized and easy to navigate, allowing you to quickly locate the information that you’re looking for.

If you need help with your investment activities, E-Trade is there for you. They let you contact a broker for help in making a trade, in addition to giving you the ability to get a managed portfolio if you would rather have a professional look after your investments. Simply put, if you’re new to trading, E-Trade is one of the best online brokerage services you can use.

Disadvantages of E-Trade

More Expensive When Compared With Some Competitors

While E-Trade may be one of the most well-known online discount brokerage services, they aren’t actually the cheapest. Their usual fees are $6.95 per trade. If you’re a more active trader that executes at least 30 trades each quarter, you can benefit from a lower rate of $4.95 per trade. Even though these fees may not seem like much, they’re more expensive than what competitors charge.

E-Trade offers several other financial products, but many of them charge you various fees too. For example, if you get a Max Rate Checking Account, you’ll pay a fee of $15 a month, unless you meet certain requirements, such as making at least 30 trades per quarter. No matter which E-Trade product you’re interested in, it’s always a good idea to carefully review their fee structure and compare it to what the competition offers. In most cases, they won’t be the most expensive, but won’t be the cheapest either.

Minimum Deposit Amount

In order to open an account with E-Trade, you’ll need to deposit a minimum of $500. This isn’t a particularly huge amount, but there are several other online brokers that let you open an account with no minimum deposit. If you don’t have too much money to invest at the beginning, you may prefer a brokerage service that doesn’t have a minimum to open an account.

How Opening an Account Works

If you choose E-Trade as your online broker, you can simply apply online to open your account. You’ll need to make a deposit of at least $500 to open a brokerage account. The funds can be deposited into your E-Trade account in a variety of ways, such as walking into an E-Trade branch and depositing cash, sending a check by mail or making an electronic funds transfer from another financial institution. As soon as your deposit is received, you’ll be ready to use your E-Trade brokerage account.

E-Trade Fee Structure

There are various fees associated with using an E-Trade brokerage account. In general, they charge you a fee of $6.95 per trade for stocks, options and ETFs. However, if you carry out over 30 trades per quarter, the fee goes down to $4.95 per trade. If you require the assistance of a broker for a trade, there’s an additional fee of $25.

Trading bonds will cost you $1. For mutual funds, the standard fee is $19.99. However, E-Trade doesn’t charge you any fees if you’re dealing with no-transaction fee, no-load mutual funds.

How Are E-Trade’s Research Features Like?

One of the biggest advantages of using E-Trade over other online discount brokerage services is the quality of their research tools and features. When you invest with E-Trade, you’ll get access to a wide variety of tools and materials that help you become a better investor. Grids, fee charts, advice, tutorials, downloadable forms, everything is there. If you need advice on a particular type of investment or want to find out more about how the E-Trade platform works, all of the information you need is there.

Another advantage of using E-Trade is that they provide you with real-time market streaming. If you’re an active investor that likes to stay on top of market movements, this is a big plus.

What Is E-Trade Pro?

The standard E-Trade platform is perfect for most investors, as it’s easy to use, yet provides you with many features that you need to trade successfully. If you don’t make too many trades, it should be enough for your needs.

However, if you’re a more active investor, E-Trade now offers a special trading platform that is just for you. The E-Trade Pro platform is available free if you carry out at least 30 stock or option trades in one quarter.

It’s a more specialized desktop trading platform that is highly customizable. You get a wide range of advanced trading tools that aren’t found on the standard trading platform. The Pro platform lets you chart risks, create lists of stocks that you’re interested in, keep track of the best performing stocks in your chosen industries or sectors, as well as extended trading hours, beginning at 7 AM Eastern time.

Can You Trade Penny Stocks With E-Trade?

If you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, you may have gotten an interest in penny stocks and the interesting payouts that they can offer. However, you should know that penny stocks aren’t the best choice for every investor and they require a bit of skill to trade. A penny stock is defined by the SEC as a common stock that trades at under $5 per share. Due to the higher risks associated with them, not all brokerages will let you trade penny stocks.

E-Trade supports penny stock trading, but there are a few restrictions. You can only place limit orders at set buy and sell prices. You can’t short sell penny stocks. Another limitation that E-Trade imposes is that you have to wait seven business days after opening your account before you’ll be able to trade any stock that is priced at less than $10 per share.

Comparing Fees

E-Trade is an online broker that offers competitive pricing in the market. It is often compared to Ameritrade as these are among the most well-known brokers online.

E-Trade currently provides stock trading services for a rate of $6.95 for every stock that is traded. You won’t have to pay a commission for the next 200 ETFs. You are expected to pay a minimum deposit worth $500, but there won’t be any inactivity fee or maintenance fee.

On the other hand, Scottrade (also known as Ameritrade) offers the same rate as E-Trade at $6.95 per stock traded. But you can enjoy more commission-free ETFs at 300. The following fees do not apply with Ameritrade: minimum deposit, activity fee, and maintenance fee.

Conclusion

E-Trade is an online discount brokerage service that offers several unique advantages to investors. They’re an established industry leader and have been around for several years, so you’ll have the assurance of dealing with a solid broker, rather than a startup that risks going under at any moment. E-Trade’s website is neatly laid out and easy to use, even if you’re a beginner to stock trading. They also provide you with a lot of tools, resources and learning materials that you can use to conduct research, learn how the various features of their trading platform work and make more intelligent investment decisions.

However, no online brokerage is perfect and there are some disadvantages to using E-Trade. Even though they’re still relatively cheap to do business with, the fees that they charge are higher than several competing online brokers. E-Trade also provides you with the ability to trade various types of items besides stocks, as well as some other financial products. This can be a plus for some users, but others may find their website and trading platform to be a bit overwhelming due to all of the options that it provides.

FAQ

Etrade can be a useful tool for anyone interested in investing. Whether you’re new to the business or you already know the ropes and just want an easier way to track your investments online, Etrade can be quite the useful asset. There is however a lot to be known about Etrade that many people new to the service might not know, a list of many such compiled questions has been placed here for you to figure out the answers to any questions you may have about the service and everything it can do. Any questions that aren’t answered here can likely be handled by Etrade customer service, who can be reached at 800-387-2331.

General Etrade Questions

Basic information on what Etrade is, along with any questions you may have about the service as a whole, along with the origins of Etrade and general information about its reliability and history.

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What is Etrade?

Etrade is a financial service company which gives easy to use tools for investors and stockbrokers to more easily make investments.

How does Etrade work?

Once you make an account with Etrade, you’ll be able to use the program to check the values of stocks and decide which ones you want to invest in.

Is Etrade good?

Yes, Etrade is one of the pioneers of online financing and has been in the business for longer than most of its competitors. Because of this Etrade has had a while to get the business down to near perfection.

Is Etrade safe?

Yes, Etrade is a safe and secure service. It was one of the first web-based financial tools on the market and has been trusted for many years.

How much does Etrade cost?

An account can be started for free with Etrade. However, you need a minimum of $500 in your account to begin trading, and they have different fees on all their various services, refer to this link for the exact pricing information https://us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/pricing-and-rates.

Is Etrade Free?

It is free to open up an account with Etrade. However, you will need $500 in your account before you can invest. In addition to that Etrade has fees for different services, you can check how much what services cost here https://us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/pricing-and-rates.

Is Etrade worth it?

Etrade is worthwhile to use for anyone, whether they’re new to investing or already know the ropes. It’s convenient and easy to use way to track all your stocks and investments on your computer or mobile device.

What is Etrade cash balance program?

Who owns Etrade?

Etrade was originally founded by William A. Porter and Bernard A. Newcomb. The current CEO is Paul T. Idzik.

Is Etrade or Americade better?

It’s a matter of opinion really, Etrade is easier to use for beginners, but Americade has more stocks and no minimum investment.

When did Etrade start?

Etrade was originally founded in 1982 by William A. Porter and Bernard A. Newcomb in California.

Who will buy Etrade?

As of now, nothing is known on who is going to buy Etrade, the service is currently in a stable state and not looking to be bought out.

What happens if Etrade goes out of business?

As of now it isn’t looking like Etrade will go out of business anytime soon. However, if it does then you should be able to get a good amount of your money back, somewhere around $100,000 to $500,000 depending on the type of account you have.

What is the minimum amount to open an Etrade account?

You’ll need to deposit $500 to begin trading with Etrade which will be given upon creation of the account, if this is a problem then other online financing sites do not require this much usually.

How long does it take Etrade to transfer money?

It shouldn’t take any longer then 3 days to transfer money using Etrade if it takes longer then you can contact support at 800-387-2331 to make sure everything is going smoothly.

How long after selling stock can you withdraw Etrade?

You should be able to withdraw your money as soon as you’ve received your money from selling stock. However, there will be around a 3 day wait for the transaction to go through fully.

Why does Etrade take so long?

It takes time for stocks to be managed through Etrade, if you feel that more time is has elapsed then normal, then you can try contacting Etrade support at 800-387-2331 to see if the site is having issues.

How do you use Etrade?

All the information you need to get your Etrade account set up so you can start investing, along with more in-depth information about the functions of Etrade for people who are already somewhat familiar with the service.

How to use Etrade?

Once you have an Etrade account you can fund your account through money in your bank account, once that is in you’ll be able to buy and sell stocks at any time from their website or mobile app.

How to make money on Etrade?

You make money on Etrade the same way you’d make money investing on any other platform, buying stocks and selling them for more than you originally paid for them.

How to withdraw money from Etrade?

Once you’ve made money through investments, you can withdraw the money from your account to your bank account through your account page.

How to use Etrade for beginners?

Etrade is an investment tool, meaning that you use it to invest in companies by buying and selling stocks. When you buy stocks through Etrade you put some money into that company, when the company does well the stocks go up, and when the company does poorly the stocks go down, selling a stock for more money then you bought it for makes you money.

How to open an Etrade account?

Go to the Etrade website (or download their mobile app) then click on the ‘Open an Account’ button and follow the steps given.

How to buy stocks on Etrade?

Once you’ve made an account and put money in the account to buy your stocks, you’ll be able to browse the list of stocks, see information on them all, and purchase whichever ones you wish to invest.

How to sell stock on Etrade?

Once you’ve bought stocks on Etrade, you’ll be able to sell them whenever you see fit from the stock section of your account (or the mobile app).

How to invest on Etrade?

Once you have an Etrade account set up, you can invest through their website or mobile app. You simply upload funds to your Etrade account, choose what you want to invest in, then pay the money for the investment.

Does Etrade have a demo account?

Etrade does not currently offer a demo account. You can set up a free account however.

How long does it take to sell stock on Etrade?

It takes around 3 days to fully confirm selling a stock on Etrade, if it is taking too much longer then that you may want to try calling Etrade support at 800-387-2331 to make sure things are still working smoothly.

How much does Etrade charge per trade?

The cost is just $6.95 per trade. However, if you make more than 30 trade per quarter, the fee can be lowered to $4.95, this is to incentivize frequent use of Etrade.

Why does Etrade need my social security number?

Etrade will not do anything with your social security number. It simply needs it to verify that you are you so that people can’t make multiple accounts. Your information is safe and secure.

Different types of investments

Information on the kinds of investments Etrade offers beyond normal stock trading, along with what types of investments and currencies Etrade does or does not support.

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How to buy penny stocks on Etrade?

Buying penny stocks on Etrade is no different than buying any other stock, you simply go to the page for purchasing stocks, find the one you want, and purchase it using the balance in your account.

Can you buy bitcoin on Etrade?

As of now, Etrade does not do transactions with bitcoin. You will need to use a regular currency and not a cryptocurrency, you can, however, withdraw the money you earn through investments and buy bitcoin using that.

How to short a stock on Etrade?

To short a stock on Etrade, you first need to speak to your broker (Etrade) and get permission to do so, once permission is acquired they will give you the loan for the stock you want to short, along with taking collateral.

How to trade options on Etrade?

To trade options on Etrade you’ll need to open a Margin Account and get that account approved. Then you’ll be able to trade options.

How to buy ETF on Etrade?

Can you trade Forex on Etrade?

As of now Etrade no longer accepts Forex trades, choosing instead to focus more on stocks and investments.

How to gift a stock Etrade?

As of now, you cannot gift stocks using Etrade. However, you can transfer an account with stocks to someone else.

Does Etrade have virtual trading?

Etrade does not offer virtual trading services of any sort. This is not a common thing for major brokers to allow.

What does sell short mean Etrade?

Selling short is when you borrow stocks from a broker, sell them on the market, then buy back and return them to the broker once the price is lower for a profit. This is a highly risky process as it’s possible to end up indebted to your broker if things don’t go well.

Rachel Carey

Financial Guru

Rachel is dedicated to helping individuals and families boost their budgets so they can enjoy the lifestyle they deserve. Rachel graduated with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. She’s a prolific finance writer, producing tons of articles on different aspects of personal and family budget management.